I have been part of the project since AMV Salad 3, and am going to be taking over the coordination and final editing duties for Deuce Loosely, who needs time to focus on his various commitments to conventions. He is still an active part of the project, and we collaborate to make sure we keep getting stronger every year.

This year's theme is "Out of Context." AMV Salad is designed to be funny above all else, so the theme is a guideline for people who need it to get started and brainstorm. Anything and everything that you feel is funny is free to be submitted.

Here are the unofficial deadlines since Otakon has not yet decided upon them:

FIRST submission deadline: May 15, 2013Post-production: June 1, 2012 FINAL submission deadline: June 15, 2012

THESE DEADLINES ARE TO GUARANTEE THE PRODUCTION IS READY ON TIME!Last year we ran into quite a bit of confusion about deadlines and struggled quite a bit near the end, so we're aiming to resolve those issues permanently.

The "rules" (Mostly the same as previous years):* 1. HAVE FUN! BE CREATIVE! Most of all, BE FUNNY!* 2. Time limit: 30 seconds max! Anything more will be considered case-by-case. (IF YOU HAVE A LONGER SOURCE, TRY TO FIND WAYS TO CUT IT DOWN WHERE REASONABLE. IF YOU NEED HELP DOING SO, PLEASE ASK)* 3. Your video must meet the standards required for being uploaded to a-m-v.org. Video source must be at least 80% anime. If you use live-action, keep it to a minimum. No extreme graphic violence, nudity, or sexual content. The "PG-13" standard is in effect here. Cursing however has become more lax in the rules of the conventions, so feel free to use sources with cursing within reason.* 4. Use any and all editing skills at your disposal.* 5. You can submit as many entries as you like, provided they are all different. Do not submit multiple entries that only have slight variations from each other (unless you contribute to whatever running joke we have planned).* 6. Please refrain from publishing your clips to You Tube or other such public video web sites until after the project premieres at the next Otakon (2013 in this case). We kind of want to keep the contents of the final edit a surprise.* 7. In previous years we promised that everyone would get at least one video into the production, but it has reached a point where we must take quality over equality. You will have everyone at your disposal to make your idea as good and funny as possible, so feel free to use us as a resource.* 8. No no NO FANSUBS! The only exception to this rule is if you inserted your own as a means of parody or left a line in to further express the point of your video. Just make sure that whatever subtitles you leave in run with the context of the sound source somehow.* 9. NO watermarks of any kind! If you don't know how to remove that thing from playback yet, consult the Help files in the respective program (most often, it's DivX).* 10. Plagiarism will NOT be tolerated here! If you are found to have submitted the work of another editor without permission and credited yourself with its creation, you will be removed completely from the project AND reported to the 'org admins.* 11. If you entered a trailer into a AMV contest (whether or not it won) and/or uploaded it to the 'org and wish to have it used in this project, that works as well.Finally...* 12. If I see unfulfilled potential in a clip and feel more can be done with it to get the point across effectively (or to make it funnier), I and/or other editors on this project will collaborate with you and we'll discuss the possibilities. Full credit will remain with the original editor after the final result is reached.

You may also send your unfinished "doomed to incompletion" AMVs for consideration.

And now, for future reference, the answer to the most common question associated with this series:"What is a production tag?"Okay, just so we have a point of reference, it goes like this. It's that very brief bit of film / video you always see just before the opening sequence, scene, or credits for any movie. They also appear at the end of every television show (the Stoopid Monkey thing after Robot Chicken or the Bad Hat cartoon after House). Some examples are the MGM lion, Columbia Pictures statue, the Universal Studios globe, etc.

SPECIAL NOTE: There is a chance that production tags will not be used depending what is done for the credits. AMVS6 was the first time we did anything different and did a short AMV, however all videos will be credited in the credits individually.

Why do you need to know this?Because I want one from each of you to accompany the closing credits. If you appeared in any of the previous AMV Salads and are satisfied with the one you sent, let me know so I can place it for this one. Otherwise, you have until the beginning of post-production to work on it.

The same tech standards apply to these things, but keep the length to under ten seconds if possible. If you don't have a "studio," just use your 'org name.

If any more guidelines are needed, this list will be modified to include them.

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Send all entries to davidkrein3d@gmail.comORUse file transfer sites like SendSpace or sign up for Dropbox or Google Drive.

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Technical standards:Be sure to send the highest quality version of your work possible. If you have the option of using DVD video rather than downloaded fansubs, please do so. Seriously. Go online and download DVD Decrypter and get a video conversion program that handles VOB files. It may be a couple additional steps in the editing process, but having a video with top-notch visual quality is worth the effort.

* File formats which are acceptable are (in this order of preference)- mpeg2!!!- avi...DivX, Lagarith, HuffYUV preferred. These codecs are available for free online so there's really no reason for everyone sending in this file format to not be able to stay within this parameter. If you are working from outside the US, please let me know if you foresee any problems with this.- mpeg1 (if necessary)- WMV (as an ABSOLUTE last resort - please render as DV-AVI).Please do not send anything formatted for Quicktime or encoded as divx (the file format, not the codec).- If you must send mp4, we will NOT accept anything encoded with or for Quicktime. Use XVid codecs please!

* The final compilation will be shown on full-screen mode when presented, so...- 720x480 display size,- a frame rate of 29.97 fps (NTSC),- Progressive scan (NO interlacing)- 4:3 aspect ratioare preferred as a standard for your clips. Also, do whatever you can to avoid the letterbox appearing in the final video. If it can't be eliminated, I'll do what I can to fix it on my end. I'd rather not be placed in that position, but sometimes it can't be avoided. Consistency between clips is also a good idea.

* This project will be rendered in 720x480 resolution. Please don't use source video with resolution much smaller than this or it will look... bad... when resized to fit the display.

* I don't mind if audio is uncompressed. If you, for whatever reason, decide to compress before sending your clip, please use LAMEmp3 (stereo; 128kbps).

Absolutely, please join if you feel the itch! Being part of this project will really challenge you in ways you never expected. Since we've constantly reached new levels of quality over the years, our goal is always to let the audience have fun. Because of that there are clips we'll cut to guarantee that fun, and clips that may be asked to be edited to strengthen the timing of the overall joke. To that end, please don't delete your source files so the potential for that editing won't be cut off. Since all of us are in this together, and since you've seen Salad, you know every clip works with one another very subtly. I'm committed to doing everything I can to bring us together and make the project ours, and have it be something everyone is proud of. And as a bonus, any participant will have a reaction vid of Otakon, 2000 people watching our stuff and laughing, to always come back to and have proof of your contribution, and to learn from as an editor.

The humor may be quick, but it sure as hell isn't easy As a group, I guarantee I'll do my best to bring everyone in to help one another, and I know I personally will go above and beyond to help anyone who needs it. So if that floats your boat, join on up and see what crazy shit your mind has in store... within the rules of course

Uanime5 wrote:Sounds interesting. I have a bunch of Higurashi clips that I can add something weird to.

Sure, give it a shot. I'll follow up with you in a little while to see how that's going.

Try to think about your clips as if you're sitting in an audience of people who may not know your source audio or much about Higurashi and see which of your ideas would work strongest. If those people can get something from it, then the Higurashi fans who know your audio will be roaring. After that it's all about doing strong editing.

I'm still in ^_^ and just recently replaced my laptop that died right before the final editing went into the last project. More memory for rendering and Vegas pro 11 ^_^ Happy Panda is happy and ready to get to work!